Larrynn Carver

I have been with DPR-Inland Empire District since October 2000 and came to the district from northern Arizona. I wanted to be an archaeologist from the time I read "Gods, Graves, and Scholars " (C.W. Ceram, 1986) at the age of nine. My areas of interest include early agriculture, environmental manipulation, rock art, and regional systems. Recently, most of my projects have involved historic resources at Mt. San Jacinto State Park relating to early logging and the pre-war CCC development of the park.

My most memorable archaeological project has been the survey of several thousand acres of disputed tribal lands in northern Arizona. We hiked through gunfire, dogs, heat, monsoons, and snow in some of the most remote, beautiful, and archaeologically dense country in North America.

I recorded everything from archaic lithic scatters to cliff dwellings and rock art panels a mile long. Navajo sheepherders sat down with me for lunch and Hopi ladies invited me to help bake "piki" for the ceremonies. And I wore out three pairs of boots!

"Piki" is a traditional Hopi cornbread, made by brushing a thin batter across a superheated stone. With your BARE HANDS. And then rolling it up into a sort of tube before it becomes crumbly. Good piki is sort of like phyllo that tastes like doritos. Mine was not like that.